The clarion., 1887-04-13
Foa TIE CLARIos.
FoR TIE tLARIoN.I
!" The White Nan Of the New South.
IgEPLY TO PROP. TILLETT.l

mates from a presumably representative
man in a Southern University. The au
thor is apparently skirmishing to bring
himself within the scope of the gale which
has recently given such a graceful swell to
the sails of Mr.. II. w. Grady. Unfortu-
natelv, however, the zeal of the Wander
bilt professor is scarcely tempered with
the vein Of native loyalty which tingles
through the eloquence of Georgia's popular
editor
While disclaimipg any purpose to de-
preciate 1.-THE chiYalry, the hospitality, the
high sense of honor,n etc, which charac-
terized the Southern gentleman Of the
Aolden time" be yet placidly assumes aud
distinctly announces that "the compari-
sons and contrasts instituted must be very
unfavorable to the white men of the Old
SOUTH He then flashes upon as the lioht
of his main proposition, that sit is the
white man of the South, more than the
black, that has been freed by the civil
war" He speaks hippantly OF the South
as consuming the first decade after the war
in "weariug the black garb of mourning
for the lost cause" and "voicing their only
feelings through Father Ryan's mournful
threnodies." He characterizes, what he is
pleased to term 1.-The typical, representa-
tive Southern man" before the war,
as a :" dependent idler," gentle
man idler, and says they were
little more than overseers of the
blacks" He then kindly informs US that
every thing which the New South" has
done, and is doing in the development OF
diversified industries and material pros
perity, in education and literature, in
morals and religion, is due to the ''eman-
cipation of the white man of the South
from the bondage to idleness which is in
separable from the ownership of slaves y
He further assumes that the cotton crop OF
to-day, though thirty per cent. larger than
before the war, Is raised on less acreage
which, he claims, Is the result of a higher
state of cultivation incident 10 free white
labor. Is there an intelligent man in the
South who believes that its average agri-
cultural condition now will, in any respect
compare favorably with that before the
war, in excellence and thoroughness
The fine breeds of cattle are everywhere
supplanting the inferior breeds )" the
-'raw-b boned horse, the scrub cow and razor
backed hogs are fast disappearing We
venture the assertion, that five counties In
Mississippi, in 1860, could have furnished
more fine -blooded saddle, harness anc
draught horses than can now be found il
The entire State. One Southern State could
then have shown more fine hogs than now
exist In the ent re cotton belt. While
very few farms in the South are now
stocked with small herds of fine cattle, yet
under the old system, thousands of plant
ers had supplied themselves with superior
cattle for their own use, that aggregated
more, in numbers and value, than the
blooded stock of the same territory at pres
ent
With a reckless indifference to evidence
he swings the sweeping assertion that all
the manufacturing and mining enterpris IS
of the South are the direct aud exclusive
fruits of the white mans deliverance from
the debiitating and benumbing influence
oi slavery. This is entirely gratuitous, as
there is no shadow of proof that the South
left undisturbed for the last quarter of a
century, would not have brought all these
and various otner interests, to a higher
plane of development than they now oe-
cupy.
The "cotton seed oil milI' is emphasized
as one of the specific results of the liber-
ated energies of the New South. Admit,
for the sake of argument only, that the oil
mill Is the peculiar product of the free
South-is the fact beyond question that
its presence among US is an unalloyed
blessing? Before the evolutionary forces
of the 'funfettered" Southern mind culmi-
mated In this Survival of the htIest," the
cotton planters returned their surplus seed
to the soil, with reproductive value of %
cents per bushel; now the negro renters
and many white farmers sell to the mills
for s or 10 cents per bushel, and the only
additional return is the oil which comes
back in the shape of Armour's lard. for
which they pay 10 cents per pound.
He would have us believe that the mate
rial resources of the South have been de
veloped only under free labor, and yet AZ
far back as 1928, Thomas III. Benton, him
self opposed to slavery, said in the United
States Senate that the South furnished the
basis of the Federal revenues, the value of
her exports up to that time being eight
hundred millions of dollars /; that of the
North, almost nothing. He further SAID
that four slave States-Virginia, the two
Carollnas and Georgia-paid three fourths
of the expenses of supporting the Govern
ment, while they received nothing in re-
turn in the shape of Government expendi-
lures. Up to the civil war, New England
exported next to nothing, yet managed to
grow rich out of the abundant prosperity
OF the SoutH. This explains the signifi-
cant remark of Mr.. Lincoln, ''If we let the
South go, where shall we get our rye
mes ?"
Prof Tillett, in attempting to portray
what he terms the blighting and demoral-
izipg influence of slavery upon the minds,
morals and energies of the Old South, is
guilty of the gross absurdity of attributing
to the character of wealth, influences
which belong only to its degree, or ex-
tent. The character of mans wealth has
nothing TO do with his habits, or tastes; il
is only the amount which he possesses,
and which is subject to the demands of his
fancies and appetites, that may qualify
his physical, moral, or intellectual capaci-
ties. j the wealth of the Old South, in
stead of being SO largely in slaves, had
been invested in mines, mills, railroads,
ships, stocks, bonds, ETC., it would have en-
gendered an equal tendency to leisure and
luxury.
No careful observer will, probably, deny
that among the wealthy and fashionable
classes at the North, there is more idleness
and extravaganza, more folly and arro-
gance, more dissipation and vice, and
more impossible barrier between rich and
poor than ever existed in the most opu-
lent social circle of shareholders For
however aristocratic they may have been,
they were always courteous and refined.
In the North, the tendency to divide soci-
ETY. on financial lines has grown, with con-
stantly increasing intensity, for more than
half century, until now it is almost def
nitely established. The very rich and the
and Lazarus. In the Old South, on the
IL. IL
at work, effecting a gradual and steady
great measure, the homogeneity Of society.
Prominent among these agencies were the
alliances SO often contracted
the families of the rich and poor
In fact, it was the rule for the active, in
ambitious young men from the
poorer families to marry the daughters of
wealthy planters. Instead of attempting
TO restrain these alliances, they were gem
orally encouraged by wealthy parents with
a view to preserving the physical and
mental vigor of their families without sac
ri6cing their estates. To employ homely
but expressive phrase, @brains and money
were constantly combining" to build up
and preserve. in the Old South, the finest
society in the world, to the exclusion of
those twin evils, the millionaire and the
tramp. The fine moral and intellectual
of Southern children has,
been largely due to the fact
that their mothers we're exempt from the
hardships of physical drudgery and the
effects Of impending want. The
poorest man in the South supported his
family with comparative ease, because of
the gently rising eradations in society and
the universal liberality of the stronger
toward the weaker. Hoy is it in those
so long freed from the "curse OF
slavery but where mechanical invention
is progressively increasing the congestion
Of wealth and stimulating luxurious lfv-
ing among the rich, while it alarmiDgly
swells the ranks of the hungry laborer, the
socialist aud the psuper Take Massa-
4 AZ - - z